sterten

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sturten, styrtan, stirten, steorten, starten

Etymology

From Old English styrtan, from Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan (“to startle, move, set in motion”).

Verb

sterten

1. to leap
   • c. 1250, Anonymous, "Cuckoo Song" (as printed in Oxford Book of English Verse, 1900):

     Bulluc sterteth

     Bullock starts

2. to start
3. to begin

Related terms

• stert

Descendants

• English: start, sturt (dialectal)
• Scots: stert, start
• Yola: starth

References

• “sterten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.